I am considering purchasing a Grace EZ3 hand quilting frame strictly to use for basting my quilts. I have been basting with safety pins on my kitchen bar and it works great for small items like a baby quilt. However, when I do a large quilt I always end up with a pucker on the back by the time I'm done with the FMQ.

Due to space contraints, I can't leave someting up full-time. The Grace EZ3 appealed to me as it could fold down for storage. I've also tried spray basting but that didn't work for me. I found a link for the Susam Schamber method but thought a frame might me easier. Plus, I really don't want to tape it to the floor and go that route. Guess I'm just too picky and looking for the perfect method!

I would welcome any thoughts if you have this frame or if you have another suggestion. Thanks for all the help ahead of time!

I have this frame and have used it to do tied quilts and found it very comfortable to work at. It is my plan to attempt actual handquilting on it, but I was supposed to put a quilt on it last winter and that didn't happen, but I haven't given up. I think it would work for basting as well, but keep in mind it is a little time consuming to load a quilt the first few times, but with practice that improves as well.

well you could get a Q Snap frame and lay your quilt layers over it and snap the top sections of the bars over the quilt, baste and move and baste. then machine quilt i guess. beats the floor or bending over a table. hmmm.
i might use mine for that!

I've thought of the same thing! Except that I'm just beginning to try to learn machine quilting, so if I dint get better at FMQ, I'd have the frame for hand quilting. I'm also going to try to use a Flynn frame. I'll find the right combo for me with trial and error.

I bought that same frame with basting in mind as well. I tried doing one quilt on it and it was so time consuming loading, advancing, etc. The basting ended up terrible and I had to redo the whole quilt on the floor. I'm sure given time I would learn how to do all that with more ease and accuracy but it just seemed easier for now to go back to basting on the floor.

I also wasn't 100% impressed with how the frame folded up. It isn't as compact as it appears in the picture. My bed sits fairly high up off the floor and I still have to push down pretty hard on the frame to get it to go under. It scrapes along the top.

If you lived close by I'd let you borrow mine to try it out and see if you liked it. I wish we all could do that with products before we spent the money!

I have this frame with the king size rails. I bought it for $50 from an ex guild member who was moving. I never used it for handquilting so I put a quilt on it to baste. It works great for me. The rails on mine are wood so I use the large quilting thumb tacks to hold the leader cloth to the rails and then hand baste the quilt top and backing to the leaders. I only use it for king or queen size quilts that I don't machine quilt in sections. Mine folds up great, it is almost flat against the wall. It must be an older or different model. There is no metal or black pieces on it . Even the gogs are wooden.